AND NO PRO HOCKEY !!!

I just ordered my R56 MCS from Rasmussen here in Portland, I should get my car sometime in August/September...you should see what I'm driving until then...Dodge 15 passenger van.

 

I've seen enough of them on the road that they must be selling well.

That being said, the one I ordered and backed out of has been sitting on the lot for 30 days and the dealer is running radio ads saying they are offering "incentives on the new models".

Maybe that just means free mats ...or maybe extra mints.

dean.

 

I am from Toronto, I got a 3% fleet discount from my salesperson and rubber floor mats. So I got a pretty good deal~ :P

I brought tons of my friends to that salesperson tho, all are looking to get a MINI in a couple months.

 

MINI sales are down year to year for the month of March *... not up. And yes, there appears to be many more 07 models on dealer lots than in previous years, when MINIs were down right scarce. Does this mean you can now bargain with dealers? Maybe... never hurts to try.


* Source: BMW Group (USA) Reports 1st Quarter Sales Figures

 

Thats to be expected when dealers weren't selling any new coupes for 1.5 months for this year.

 

MINI sales are down year to year for the month of March *... not up. And yes, there appears to be many more 07 models on dealer lots than in previous years, when MINIs were down right scarce. Does this mean you can now bargain with dealers? Maybe... never hurts to try.
MINI didn't release the 2007 until Presidents weekend in February. So sales for Jan and Feb were basically 06's which translates into slower sales. April is an increase over 06 that is a far better predictor. In addition, some dealers have increased allocations due to the enlargement of the MINI factories in the UK. This would mean more cars on dealer lots which may mean bargaining may be in some customers futur, but here in the Seattle it means we still pay over MSRP, and if you buy one off the lot it means and extra 2K or more with things like tints and teflon coating. Oh yes, no mats or even a 1% reduction on accessories.Your payoff comes from your R53 sale which I got almost 72% of what I paid four years ago.

 

As inventory raises I would expect dealers to begin dealing off MSRP. If you look at the 2002-2006 MINI trends, MINIs were down right scarce through out the life cycle. Even after the anounce of the re-design, you never saw the number of MINIs sitting at dealers lots as you do with the 2007.

 

New 07's were trickling in to dealers throughout March. My dealer had fewer than 20 s and were all prespec cars. Second quarter ends July 1. BMW announced on the May that sales as compared to Apil 06 were up a little. Looking at dealer lots to bolster your conclusions is a poor way of judging MINI 07 sales. In the Northwest, MINI's were scarce throughout 2002-06. They are still scarce despite doubling their allocation from 2006. The wait is 8 months for MCS and less for convertibles and MCs. MINI is expecting that sales will be strong throughout the year. Time will tell, but there are more positives than negatives as of now.

 

I got the call on Monday. My original date was 7/27 but he told me it will be here 2 weeks sooner.

 

Sorry - you are right. The figures I saw were for April. Mini sales for April are up 10% when compared to April 06

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/05/01/b...rs-april-2007/

Please, lets not start imagining the 07s are not selling well, or that they won't out sell the past years.

 

My local dealer is having their allocation of R56s increased even though they have quite a selection of R56s on the lot because sales are brisk. With some nice used MINIs on the lot, we may actually begin to see some equilibrium in which Plant Oxford can finally keep up with demand (it used to be common for only one or two MINIs to be on the lot and sales were lost because of it) and the used market grows at a healthy pace. One would certainly hope/expect that dealer markups would disappear at least.

 

I like dealer markups!

They tend to be very regional so if you're lucky enough to live in a high markup area and are willing to make a few phone calls you can easily get a car without a markup (or even at a discount) from another area. The local markups help keep resale values high and the cost of ownership low for a savvy buyer.

 

I doubt that markups will disappear altogether in high-volume areas (I'm sure that in San Francisco Minis will always be marked up) but dealers will become more flexible in the negotiating process. For people living on the coasts this probably just means free floormats but there are already people who claim to have gotten up to $500 off MSRP on the R56 and, like 911Fan said, if people are willing to shop around and look for bargains, they just might find them.

 

Sad to say, my dealer reports a lower than average sales period. This is a dealer that did NOT have any sort of "introduction party" when the '07s were released.

A connection?

 

I'm not really sure about this, but I will tell you about a supposed MINI policy. Here in the Seattle area you can buy within a prescribed area like Oregon and Washington. If you buy, say in Colorado, the Colorado dealer loses a one car alocation. Now, this policy is designed to encourage buying locally. It should work if there is a uniform high demand, but if there are extra cars sitting on new car lots then this policy isn't going to work. MINI is trying to keep prices high.

 

Than what's with the banner that shows up on top of this website sometimes that the dealership in the Hamptons in NY will sell anyone in the continental US a car at MSRP and ship it there for $500?

 

Actually April was not a great month either for the R56...

The R56 sold 2673 units in April. Combining the 2007 R53 convertible sales with the 2007 R56 sales you have a total of 3339 units sold in April 2007 compared to 3313 units sold in April 2006. At best, the 2007 R56 combined with 2007 R53 convertibles are basicly flat year to year, which must be quite a disappointment for a newly designed launch. This also explains the large number of R56 MINIs sitting at the dealers lot. I suspect you will see dealing on the R56 very soon...

 

Also, shouldn't April still reflect some of the pent-up demand for the R56 not being available earlier in the year?

 

In theory yes... but the numbers don't show any pent-up demand... especially when you seperate out the 2007 R53 convertible sales from the R56 sales number.

 

If MINI of Mountian View continues to insist on $1500 dealer markup, I'm going to be quite unhappy.

 

Well slag911 time will tell? I believe the glass is more than half full. You started this converstation by quoting Jan through March, but then acknowledge that April was indeed better. Perhaps there are fewer sales of convertibles because customers are waiting for 2008 new ones? Let's reconvene this conversation in July and see whose analysis is more accurate. In any event, MINI is still moving more cars than it ever thought it would sell in the U.S. We should all be pleased with this. By the way do you own an R56?

 

I agree with Loui--a few months more will tell. A lot of people worried about reliability with the redesign, and a little time should assuage those fears. I admit I had some trepidation myself, but at the time my BMW crapped out (at 190,000 miles, it was excusable), I had to make a choice between an R53 that didn't have what I wanted, and an R56 that did. Both were available at MSRP--no discounts at that time. I picked the R56, and have been very happy with it.

 

Braman Palm Beach whines that they don't get enough advertisement and it hurts sales. I get at least one email a week offering a free vacation, surfboard, or something else, to refer a buyer. They had maybe 10 '07 MCSs on the lot last time we were there and they were discounting their '06s by $2K. Not my favorite dealer and I can understand why they whine. They are not MINI lovers. They are not OBESSESSED like we are. (My MA drives an old Scion.) He didn't know about the programing---but he went to the Arizona event?

 

April is not better... sales are flat year to year. Take the R53 numbers out and sales are downright trending down. April should have been a banner month in the USA, with supply chain at full capacity and pent up demand for the new redesign, but this has not been the case. No, I don't own a R56... I own a 2006 R53.

 

With reports of other dealers having large inventory of R56 models on their lots, your dealer isn't alone...